This generation..”/“Young people these days..” Even more expressions I’d like to punch if they had a face. They’re even more of these lazy, shallow expressions that express a lot while saying so little. The expressions suggest that entire generations can grow themselves up and collectively decide to be a certain way for no reason at all. The truth is that, at our core, we are all the same. We have been the same. We will probably always be the same. Don’t misunderstand, though, that isn’t to say we talk the same, dress the same, enjoy the same things or even think the same things. There are some deeper, more fundamental, basic parts of us that seem to be constant, no matter how far back in time you go. You see, the thing is, when you look at these more basic things and try to understand them, this whole generations blaming generations for things deal seems pretty stupid, but we rarely do take the time to understand these basic commonalities. Humanity has always been in this constant struggle, country against country, culture against culture, class against class, generation against generation, because of all these petty, stupid little things, but then again, this has also always been one of these constants.
AKIRA has been praised pretty much since its release back in the 80s, but in more recent years, it’s been praised even more for how accurately (sometimes eerily so) it predicted present events. While this isn’t too uncommon for science fiction and dystopian fiction in general (which is just unfortunate as it shows how little art is taken seriously), Akira has especially been praised for how vividly it captured the socio-political climate of today as well as some specific events even (including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics AND its postponement). While the manga series (1982-1990) takes place in 2032, the 1988 film takes place in 2019 and besides the lack of smartphones, it basically gets everything down (minus the 80s street fashion which is honestly our loss, though). Akira has been said to be ahead of its time, but I’m not so sure I agree with this sentiment. In fact, let me go further to say that I think you’re missing the most important point of the story, if you say something like that.
I should probably mention before you read further that I’ll be discussing both the film and manga at length, so spoilers are inevitable. Having said that, I personally don’t think Akira is the type of story where spoilers ruin the experience (in fact I’d argue you’re better off knowing what’s up before watching/ reading). Regardless, you’ve been warned.
Being a young person sucks in so many ways. When you’re older, you look back on youth fondly and even envy young people for their youth, but what I think you don’t consider too often is how FRIGHTENING and SURREAL this time is. It’s that time when you realize life isn’t quite what you thought it was and this realization WILL have some effect on you. This dilemma is the basic premise of every teen drama (no, really, think about it). You can choose to get bent out of shape over it, embrace it, or reject it. When you look at it from this point of view, most of the actions of young people, brilliant, stupid or whatever, it all starts to make a little bit of sense.
One of the few similarities between the Akira film and the manga is that the start of the story almost feels like we’re dropping in on the middle of a much LARGER story. We follow this teenage biker gang that’s doing their thing, breaking stuff, making noise, beating each other up and generally treating Neo Tokyo like their amusement park. We have Shoutaro Kaneda (the leader), Tetsuo Shima (his best friend who’s always harbored a silent resentment of him), Yamagata, Kaisuke, Kuwata, Watanebe and Takeyama (but you only really need to remember Kaneda and Tetsuo). Tetsuo, while trying to show off ends up colliding (?) with a.. strange little man. It’s this discoloured child with the wrinkles of an old man (??). While Tetsuo is pretty badly injured from the crash, the child isn’t (?!). Not even a scratch. That’s when the military swoops in with their helicopters and everything and takes him and the child away, handing Kaneda and the others in to the police. It’s at this point, the audience knows that these kids have now dropped into something much larger than themselves. Shortly after, while the specific circumstances differ in the manga and the film, Kaneda crosses paths with and starts pursuing a girl named Kei who we soon learn is a part of an anti-government resistance group. Just like that, now Kaneda has also found himself wrapped up in something larger than himself. These roads will also lead Kaneda and Tetsuo to cross paths one again but in circumstances neither one of them would have ever expected, the results of which would have an effect on all of Neo Tokyo, if not the world.
WHAT'S GOING ON?!
I’m just gonna say it. Young people are pretty dumb. This has always been the case and will always be the case. Sure, now they are publicly pretty dumb, but young people have always been pretty dumb. Even if you’re well educated or have some amount of wisdom to you, you’re dumb. Even if you have the best intentions, you’re dumb. It’s true. (Yes, I know I’m one of them, too. Shut up.) When you’re young, in most cases, life hasn’t taken a toll on you, yet. You still have that hope or optimism or creativity. Even if you go the other way and are a pessimist or a nihilist or apathetic, it’s still founded in a naiive, inexperienced mind that assumes absolutes to a world that it hasn’t fully experienced. To grow up or come of age means that you’re just starting to see glimpses of life’s true colours. You’re just starting to realize that life’s kind of a sonofasomething, but you still have hope. Even if you go the other way, the apathy or nihilism is a defense mechanism. When you’re dropped in these circumstances you don’t quite understand, you choose one of these two paths. Historically, it’s been the case that most people will choose the former but end up falling into the latter. Sometimes a hybrid of the two. Sometimes preferring one but performing the other. You can conform to or resist society, but in this case, we often choose the latter but fall into the former.
Another thing you need to understand about young people is that we have this inherent desire to be a part of something larger than ourselves. It’s this longing to be a part of some type, some culture, some movement. This is both one of the best and worst parts of being a young person. This is where social reform comes in. This is where peer pressure comes in. This is where the protests some in. This is where trends come in. This is also where the virtue signalling comes in. Young people, even if they’re not quite sure who they are, or what it is they are doing, or what it is they are facing feel this need to be a part of something larger than themselves. They’ve been dropped into these centuries upon centuries-long conversations, and they’re now expected to participate. They’re now expected to add to the conversations and eventually take over, so it only makes sense that they want to latch onto something larger than themselves.
“This is our world, now. You people messed it up. It’s our job to fix it.”
Kaneda couldn’t care less about the resistance or the government or all that, but “Kei pwetty.” That and he finds out they’re chasing that little discoloured guy he saw earlier and the government’s been doing some strange stuff with Tetsuo. He’s not quite sure what it is, but Tetsuo’s his best friend and he wants to save him from all this sketchy government stuff. What exactly is the government doing that requires resistance? Why is it that throughout the entire film and manga we can see protesters marching, burning things down, breaking stuff, blowing stuff up and fighting the police? Well, we aren’t exactly given a straight answer. We never quite know what the government’s done to warrant this resistance (nothing that should be public knowledge, at least). Or even if they do know something, they really aren’t affecting the decisions of the government at all. The protesters are mostly presented as little but a background detail. Stuff blows up. People rally in the streets. That’s the setting. Somehow, I get the feeling that even not even they know exactly what they’re doing.
That said, this is sci-fi. Of course, the government’s up to some sketchy stuff. Tetsuo has been undergoing experiments hosted by the government (naturally, all this is done without his knowledge). One night he wakes up in a hospital bed with a splitting headache. Being a punk who don’t follow no rules, he takes off and tries to return to normal life. Don’t worry though, the government is constantly monitoring him, stalking him. Tetsuo soon realizes that something’s VERY wrong with him. He’s having surreal hallucinations and seems to be developing some kinds of abilities(?). The government snatches him right back when he starts showing these changes. He’s back in the hospital and now, not only are the hallucinations getting crazier, but his abilities start getting more wack. Eventually, he gets better control over his powers and the hallucinations stop. Again, being the punk he is who don’t take nothing from no one, he goes on a rampage through the hospital, quite literally popping popping everyone that stands in his way be they nurse or government soldier. Lots of good old fashioned 80s hyperviolence in this thing btw. He’s popping people’s heads, blowing stuff up, he’s going nuts. What are these powers? Why does he have them? He doesn’t know.. but no one can stop him now.
THE COUNTERCULTURE
The 60s, man. The 60s. Probably the historical period I find most fascinating. The COUNTER CULTURE, maaaan! Down with the ESTABLISHMENT, maaaann. Down with the SYSTEM, maaaann. Down with the MAN, maaaannnn. It was such an interesting time. The counterculture was a movement that erupted in most of western culture where long held attitudes and values were questioned and tossed. This was the period of postmodernism.
So, here’s what I think basically what birthed this whole situation.
The early 20th century saw two world wars, each one more horrifying than the last. At this same time, we saw the rise of mass media (which in retrospect might have possibly been a contributing factor to the wars). After the second one, the world, being all scarred and stuff, decided to think to the future and create a utopia of puritan values and raise their children to become idealized versions of themselves. Speaking of children, they made lots of them, creating the generation that would be known as the “baby boomers.” This period (1940s -early 1960s) also saw the rise of advertising and consumerism/capitalism, thanks in no small part to mass media. The media very much promoted some very idealized and strict ideas about family and culture (and censored anything that opposed these ideas). Of course, none of this stuff stopped wars, oppression, environmental issues and all that lovely stuff, in fact I’d say this time of forced values was a cause for lots of it. The many censorship laws in place prevented these controversial issues from even being acknowledged. (Sounds familiar?) Personally, I’d argue censorship, itself, is a form of propaganda. So, we have these young people, who never had any real identity, moulded to become idealized versions of their parents, bearing witness to this messed up, troubled, oppressive world (whose issues aren’t even being acknowledged), and they are expected to simply accept it. Something was always going to give.
Mass media, while always largely used to perpetuate the hypocritical values of society and further systematic intolerance and propaganda, also had the potential to unite these young people. You see, youth culture was never exactly a thing until this time, which might seem strange now, because today, most pop culture and advertising is targeted towards young people and youth culture. The concept of ‘teenager’ wasn’t even a thing until around the 1920s and 1940s. When I think about the rise of youth culture, I think about Elvis Presley (parents detested him and his wiggly legs (some things never change)) and films like Rebel Without a Cause (1955) (though their true themes were always left as subtext because of all those censorship laws).
Young people were first beginning to develop an identity and relate to each other. They were now becoming an allied force. The Vietnam War was only spark that started the flame of the counterculture. Civil rights protests, drugs, free love, anti-war protests, student riots, hippies, radical parties, all of this was a direct response to the oppression, censorship and intolerance that made up this world these young people grew up in. The world, as they saw it, was a hell that called itself heaven, and they sought to tear it all down. As a young person with my own share of issues with society and culture, myself, there really is something refreshing about this period. I just wish they’d have known exactly what it was they were doing. I wish they’d have at least proposed a new set of values instead of simply demolishing the old ones and leaving the rubble as is.
I remember the first few times I’d watched and read Akira, I always viewed the colonel as a bad guy. The colonel was the one supervising all the sketchy experiments and stuff the government was doing to Tetsuo. While Akira is predominantly a story about young people, I think the colonel is the only character who really serves as the voice of the adults. Throughout the entire story, the attitude adults have towards young people ranges from indifference to plain contempt. When Kaneda and his gang get in trouple with the dean, their punishment is a simple punch to the face by the coach while he yells “DISCIPLINE!!” Their school is a dump. We never see or hear ANYTHING about their parents (then again, many of them are orphans). They’re given drugs by the barkeeper (who, ironically, is the nicest character in the whole thing), and Kaneda also gets drugs from the school nurse (who he seems to also be fooling around with). The adults in this story really don’t care about the young people, and the colonel is no different. In fact, the colonel is probably the most open about his contempt for the young generation, but there’s a line he says to the head scientist that puts this in perspective.
Scientist- I always thought you had a resentment for the city, colonel.
Colonel- The passion to build has cooled and the joy of reconstruction forgotten. Now.. Now it’s just a garbage heap made up of a bunch of hedonistic fools.
The story of Akira takes place thirty years after World War III which ended in the destruction of Tokyo. In spite of that, the city was able to build itself right black up and even become a superpower even ahead of the rest of the world, birthing ‘Neo Tokyo.’ The colonel would have witnessed this whole process first-hand. He watched a city get destroyed, then despite the odds, build itself back up; then a generation of young people who know nothing of the efforts and never experienced any real hardship in their own lives use it as their playground having gang wars, doing drugs, blowing stuff up and protesting. This also explains his horror when he realizes Tetsuo is getting too powerful and even wants to awaken ‘Akira.’ He knows what resulted from that 30 years ago and knows it will happen again if they let things continue as they are. Still, despite his protests, the scientists continue experimenting and the politicians treat it as a political issue. Akira is capable of unthinkable power, and considering what he’s done in the past, he really should be left alone. Tetsuo should be stopped. The colonel knows this and refuses to continue working on this recipe for disaster, but his only gets him fired. We now have another crisis on our hands.
POST-WAR JAPAN
If you have even the most basic knowledge of World War II, or more so, the history of Japan for the last century, that last paragraph should have sounded all kinds of alarms. Tokyo getting destroyed at the end of WWIII is a clear parallel to the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of WWII (still the biggest act of destruction to be unleashed on an actual civilization to this day). Despite the odds, Japan built itself right back up and became a superpower looking futuristic even compared to the rest of the world. It was a truly inspiring sight. Japan also became a significant cultural force as well with influential directors like Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu, authors and poets like Osamu Dazai and Fumiko Enchi, and franchises like Godzilla and Ultraman. Anime and modern manga became a thing (for better or worse what usually draws people to Japan, today). Them toilets became a thing (have you seen those toilets?!). The crowning event that displayed Japan’s achievements was the 1968 Tokyo Olympics (which is likely what Akira was referencing with the 2020 Neo Tokyo Olympics). Akira never predicted the future. It simply took past events and set them in the future. The fact that they’re all playing out now (again) is something I think is really worth stopping to think about.
I’ve been speaking mostly about western culture because I know the people reading this are probably from the west, but Akira is a TREMENDOUSLY Japanese story that was made for a late Showa Era Japanese audience (as you could probably tell from the last paragraph), so I really must take the time to give a little more context. The Akira manga was serialized in Young Magazine in the 1980s meaning it was addressed to the first generation of Japanese young adults and teenagers to have grown up at a time where their experience with the war and the bomb(s) and the reconstruction was little but details in the history textbooks. This was the first generation to grow up in a world of Hello Kitty and Doraemon and vending machines rather than samurai and warlords and imperialism. They couldn’t really appreciate these things, but that doesn’t mean things were all sunshine and rainbows. The 60s and 70s was pretty insane for Japan, too. The counterculture was very much in full swing here as well. There’s a lot packed into what started this counterculture, largest issue probably being the American occupation and influence (which HUGELY changed Japanese culture, biggest way being its push for demilitarization and democracy).
The counterculture gave rise to radical left-wing parties and student riots which rose anarchy and led to guerrilla warfare in the streets. Prolific figure in the Japanese counterculture was avant-garde poet/playwright/filmmaker/author/my dude, Shuji Terayama. His work, often very shocking and controversial, explores these frustrations and conflicts the Japanese young people were facing. Another important figure in this movement was author/poet/actor/playwright/the real last samurai, Yukio Mishima.
He and his work are also invaluable to understanding the struggles of the time, if from a different angle than someone like Terayama. He was a strong advocate for neo-imperialism and was disgusted at how the western influence had changed the spirit of his country. This eventually resulted in him seizing command over a general’s office at a military headquarters to deliver a speech from a balcony arguing for the overthrow of Japan’s Post World War II constitution, only to subsequently commit seppuku when he realized his speech wasn’t being met with any sympathy. Paul Schrader made an excellent film about him and his work, and while I can’t say I agree with Mishima’s views, I have only the highest respect for the fact that he stood for something he believed in despite the opposition.
Going back to the 80s, though, this was also a very tumultuous time for Japan. While still relatively more chill than most of the world, Japan was seeing a noticeable rise in violent crime, especially from young people. Juvenile delinquency was becoming a big thing at the time (which come to think of it, might be a reason why the delinquent genre in manga and film got really popular). The 80s also its share of protests and guerrilla warfare resembling that of the 60s most notably with the Sanrizuka Struggle. This was (and actually still is) a protest that erupted when the Japanese government decided to build Narita International Airport despite the residents of the area’s disapproval. When you look at the footage from this time, the imagery from Akira looks.. frighteningly less like science fiction. The spirit of the restoration has faded. You can imagine all this might take a toll on an increasingly cynical generation of Japanese young people. So, how’s Tetsuo handling all this?
MUTATION
Our boy has been kicked around all his life. He’s an orphan. He’s a drug addict. No one really loves him except for maybe his best friend who he’s silently resented this whole time. The kid’s not even 16 yet. But now, he has this UNFATHOMABLE power. He can (and chooses to) give this world that has systematically spat on him a piece of his mind. My guy is TEARING through the streets. He’s blowing stuff (and people) up. The government and their tanks can’t stop him. My dude’s going straight BOSS MODE through the city, all the while trying to find this.. ‘AKIRA’ he keeps hearing about. Who/what is ‘Akira?’ He doesn’t know, but he WANTS IT!! The resistance catches up with him, Kaneda tries to stop him, Kei tries to stop him, we mentioned the government, the kids(?) try to stop and warn him (have I mentioned them?). You see, Tetsuo’s not the only one who the government’s been poking around with. Including the discoloured child(?) Tetsuo ran into earlier, there were others, few of which survived (if barely). These kids knew Akira personally. They know what he can do. They try to stop Tetsuo. Tetsuo doesn’t care. The closer Tetsuo gets to Akira, the more unstable his powers get. He eventually does find Akira, though, and while this is a HUGE part where the details of comic and the film differ, for the sake of this essay, let’s just say, it didn’t work out the way he planned.
What did he plan, exactly? I don’t think he knew, himself, but this wasn’t it. It ends up being way more than he thought he could handle. He MUTATES and DEFORMS and it’s GROSS and GROTESQUE and it’s really REALLY FRIGHTENING to look at. He absorbs everything around him and freakin crushes people. His body’s just getting DESTROYED. He becomes something unrecognisable. He’s scared. He’s crying. He begs Kaneda to help him. No one can help him, now. He explodes and becomes.. I don’t even know how to describe it. He becomes something beyond the borders of human, or life, or.. man, I really don’t know what to tell you. Tetsuo becomes his own universe. Kaneda is briefly caught in this.. explosion, universe, concept. (I do apologize if I’m not making sense right now, this stuff’s out there.) He gets a glimpse into Tetsuo’s psyche. He gets a glimpse at Akira. This is only before he is pulled out of it by one of the other espers, saving him from getting consumed by it. He returns to reality and what he sees before him is Neo Tokyo being utterly destroyed, vaporized, eradicated by this unearthly explosion, annihilating building after building, vehicles, roads, animals, people, lives all eradicated in this massive explosion. Everything we’ve built up in the past 30 years.. gone.. again..
There are several things that can be drawn from Tetsuo’s story, most obviously, the corruption of power. What I really want to focus on here, though, is how history repeats itself. The whole Akira power thing gives me big Cold War vibes. America and the Soviet Union were on the brink of nuclear warfare for little reason more than.. the fact that they had the power. The exact thing happened just recently: countries having the power to just wipe each other out were on the brink of doing.. just that.. simply because.. the leaders are apparently man-children with big weapons. Power does have this really blinding effect on people. People will do things they would never have thought themselves capable of before they had it. Tetsuo quite literally gets consumed by it. The power amplifies his latent desires. It makes him become something unrecognizable. Tetsuo’s story could be called the story of capitalism.. (Tetsuo is Disney.. TETSUO IS DISNEY!!) But more related to this essay, it’s hard not to view Tetsuo as the embodiment of Japan, or more specifically its youth.. actually young people in general. They’ve been kicked. They’ve inherited this broken, messed up world that looks down on them and neglects them but expects so much from them. They don’t owe this world anything. Eventually, though, they get power. Power through unity. Power through culture. They get a voice. You look at the 80s when Japan was experiencing a massive economic boom or a time like now when the internet (and by extension, culture at large) is dominated by youth culture, it’s hard not to draw parallels. Tetsuo doesn’t understand his power; he doesn’t understand his world, either. All he knows is that he owes the world nothing, but now he has the power to kick it. And it tears him apart. It absolutely destroys him. It leaves him unrecognizable. Young people generally don’t quite know what’s going on, or even if they do, it’s rarer for them to understand it. They feel neglected, they never asked to be born and really and truly, they owe this world absolutely nothing. It’s no wonder they break stuff, riot, tear values and ideologies down and generally go nuts, even if they don’t quite understand what they’re doing. Or maybe they do honestly try to change it for the better.. though it isn’t too often that they understand it enough to do that. Eventually, though, they get older, tire of all the screaming and trend following, they settle down, enter the work force, get comfortable. This is so much easier. Why were we breaking stuff in the first place? A new generation rises up. It’s broken, it’s horrible! Who hurt them?! Where did they learn these things?! We’d never have done these things when we were younger! What are they complaining about now? Didn’t we already fix all these problems? …I guess not.. Holy smokes.. I’VE BECOME MY PARENTS!!!
HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF
2020 was a big year for protests. The thing that frightened me, though was that it was all playing out like the events of one of my story ideas. The story takes place from the 1960s through to the 2010s/2020s. I thought it could be a cool bit of social commentary if I had the events of the 60s repeating themselves in the 2010s. Turns out I didn’t have to make things up. It turned out to that my pessimism wasn’t all that farfetched.
Nothing’s changed. Not really. Akira was never ahead of its time. We just haven’t changed. Circumstances may differ, but we are the same. We haven’t had another war big enough to call a World War in a while (although we came pretty close), but we’re in a time of massive culture war. Virtue signaling that used to be reserved for politicians is now practiced by everyone with any kind of online presence. Put up your little black and pink boxes to show you’re against oppression (instead of, you know, actually discussing real ways to solve these ideological issues) or cancel whoever’s upsetting the community this week (because you care SO MUCH about social justice.. not because you get a sadistic high from virtually executing people on the ‘wrong side of history’ to reaffirm your place on the ‘right side of history’). While rebellions and revolution has been around throughout most of human history, youth culture’s relatively new. It rose with mass media and social media’s only amplified it. Whether youth culture is a good or bad thing is up for debate, but there’s no denying that it’s caused significant cultural change, even if at our core, we’re still the same. This is why with every generation of young people, there is this determination. “YES! We will be the ones to change the world!” History has proven, however, that it won’t be that simple. Not the way we’ve been going about it, at least. These kids are going through 10 political ideologies a week. One day, you’re a social justice warrior, next day, the earth’s flat, then you’re on that #sigmamalegrindset, then you’re a feminist, then Kubrick faked the moon landing, then maybe women shouldn’t wear pants after all, then gender is a social construct, then they’re making the frogs gay and so on and so forth. Young people are generally really confused and don’t have a firm opinion on anything. They’re just trying to figure things out. This is why they can come across as very dumb. Doesn’t help, either, that the adults write them off and don’t take them seriously. “Oh they’re all corrupt, them telephones and TokTiks are rotting their brains.” And you know what? They might be right. (A little rich coming from the hippies, TV couch potatoes, metal heads and skate-rats, though). There’s a common thread here, though. I think understanding it, may go some way in (beginning) to see some real change.
We need to try to understand each other.
Having said all of this, it’s not like we haven’t changed at all, but understanding those constants.. I think that’s the way to go. The old have a contempt for the young and the young have a resentment of the old. Old people actually know what it’s like to be young, young people don’t know what it’s like to be old. It’s a little sad (understandable, but sad) that old people generally don’t even try to have more sympathy for the young. They grew up in a different world, people spoke a different language, dressed differently, interacted with each other differently. The circumstances were different, but as was discussed in this essay, somehow, we end up doing the same things. Perhaps there are some things in our nature that don’t change. I’d like to understand what those are, and I think you should do the same. Or maybe they can change, and we just don’t know it, yet. These deeply human things are what transcend race, country, gender and generation. Maybe young and old people speak different languages, but we can still try to learn from each other. Even understanding something like boomers’ wordplay-based humour, millennials’ irony-based humour and gen-z’s surreal humour could go a great distance. If we listened to each other, took each other seriously and really tried to understand each other, maybe we wouldn’t have to riot and break stuff. Maybe if we sat down and tried to understand why we are the way that we are, we could fix things for good and stop repeating the past. Maybe kids should stop writing off the black and white films and adults should stop writing off the influencers. What are we doing? What did we do? How will it affect the future? How did it affect the present? How much have we changed? How much have we not changed? Let’s actually sit down and have a conversation.
Akira ends with Kaneda, Kei and whoever else survived after Tetsuo’s.. moment, riding off into the ruins of Neo Tokyo. The colonel watches them with a hopeful look in his eyes. Are they going to end up like his generation? Will the be the ‘Kids of the Revolution’, or will Neo Tokyo be destroyed once again? Probably the latter, but I dunno. Maybe witnessing everything first-hand, they’ll have learned something. Or maybe not. But hey! Let’s hope for the best. That’s another one of our constants, isn’t it?
Comments